The Secret
by navycorpsman
Summary: Melinda Gordon is searching for antiques in an old abandoned home. She finds there's more to the house than meets the eye. What secret is it hiding?
1. The Ghostly Figure

Melinda Gordon looked around the old house. She found the house to be very beautiful and comforting. She there on business, looking for items for her antique store. Close friend and employee Andrea Moreno accompanied her on this trip.

"Isn't this just a wonderful house, Melinda?" Andrea sighed. "You wonder what life was like here so many years ago."

Melinda smiled her soft smile. "I know. This house has a history." She looked in the opposite room and saw a figure. The figure stared at Melinda. The stare, though not fierce or threatening, was rather intimidating. Melinda wondered if she and the others were welcome in the house.

The figure swept quickly to Melinda's side. "I know you see me." She airly spoke. "Your eyes give it away."

Melinda tried not to let on that there was a presence. Andrea would understand, but the rest of the group would not. Melinda merely smiled and nodded her head. "Yes, I do." She whispered.

Andrea looked at Melinda. "Are we in ghostly presence?" She had gotten used to Melinda's ability to see and interact with dead people and was able to tell when a spirit was talking to Melinda.

"Yes."

"Does she see me?" The figure asked Melinda.

"No. Only I do." Melinda tried to keep her voice down. She didn't want to attract any attention.

"If you can see me, then you can help." The figure now stood in front of Melinda.

"How?" Melinda toyed with her hair.

"I want you to buy the safe. It won't be worth much right now, but I will help you discover its secrets when the time is right." And the figure vanished.

Andrea looked at Melinda. "Everything okay?"

Melinda nodded. "Yeah, but she wants me to buy the safe."

"She?" Andrea was surprised.

Melinda looked at Andrea. "Yeah, she. Why? Wait!" She held her hand up. "Don't tell me. Women are a 21st century invention. Until the year 2000, men had the babies. Then suddenly, there was this strange looking one with breasts and the men ah'ed and oh'ed over it and called her woman."

Andrea looked at her friend. "No. But you are quick. The tour guide said no women ever dwelled in this house. The guy who built it felt women were of the devil."

"And how right he was." The ghostly lady stood alongside Melinda. "I tried to make him to feel that way and where did it get me?" She leaned into Melinda. "How come you and only you can see me?"

"Because I'm the only one that can." She saw the tour guide looking at her. "The only one that can honestly say I want that safe." She smiled, hoping she fooled everyone.

"How much do you want to pay for it?" The guide asked.

"What's the asking price?" Melinda returned.

"It's not really on the block, so what you want to pay for it is fine. The family wants to get rid of everything."

"I don't understand that. If this guy believed so much that women were of the devil, how did he have kids and a family?" Andrea asked.

Melinda shook her head. She wasn't sure of what to make of the mystery forming around her and the safe and wondered what secrets the house held.

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_This is my first attempt at a GW fan fic. Please let me know what you think. Thanks!_

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	2. Another Ghost Arrives

Melinda looked around the bedroom. So many great items, but she knew she needed the safe. "Andrea, what do you think of the armoire?"

Andrea smiled. "It's out of our budget, especially since you seem determined to get the safe."

"It's really lovely, though and I think it would sell well." Melinda opened the doors of the armoire and was greeted by the smell of old cedar and something else decaying that Melinda couldn't place her finger on. She slammed the door and held her hand over her nose.

"He always did that, you know." The mysterious lady appeared beside Melinda. "What ever it was that reminded him of me, well, he just _had_ to destroy it by putting a dead rat in it." The ghostly figure looked sadfully around the room. She pointed to the bed. "Do you see it?"

"What?" Melinda looked at the bed.

"The blood."

Melinda looked but saw no trace of blood. "I'm sorry, I can't see any blood."

"LOOK AGAIN!" the lady screamed.

"I still don't see anything." Melinda tried to remain calm as to not bring attention to herself.

"THIS IS WHERE HE KILLED ME!"

"I didn't kill you!" Melinda jumped at the sound of a male voice beside her.

"Your cretans killed me on your behalf, Theodore."

Melinda tried to fake a smile, trying not to let on that there was something going on around her. Andrea looked at Melinda and sighed. "We have ghosts, don't we?" Andrea had become used to Melinda's ghost seeing and knew not to freak out any more.

"Two."

"Two?" Andrea was surprised. "I thought there was just the lady."

"There was. But now, there's a man name Theodore."

She saw the male look at her and he approached her. "You can see me, can't you?" Melinda tried to not look at him.

"Of course she can see you, idiot. Who do you think I was talking to? Myself?" The lady smarted.

The guy faced the lady. "That's what got ye killed, Hattie. That mouth of yers. All ye ever did was nag and smart off when a woman was to only speak when spoken to."

Hattie snorted. "That was always the most ridiculous thing I had ever heard. You know that you couldn't handle the fact that I was always smarter than you and had more to say and actually _KNEW_ what I was talking about. You, on the other hand, were nothing more than a miscreant who was raised by a family of apes."

The guy raised up his hand. "If I knew hitting you were to work, I'd slap you so hard..."

"STOP IT!" Melinda suddenly yelled and all eyes turned on her. She smiled weakly. "Sorry, I was trying to convince myself to not think of the armoire." She made her way to the garden.

Andrea just looked at Melinda. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Melinda played innocent.

"Don't play innocent with me, Melinda. You don't ever yell at yourself to not buy something." Andrea spoke softly, but firmly.

Melinda looked around and leaned in close to Andrea. "I think there was a murder here."

"Really?" Andrea was surprised.

"Yes, really." Melinda looked at the female figure. "I think that she's not mentioned because he did everything he could to wipe her memory from here."

"Didn't work, did it, Theodore?" Hattie snapped.

"Until she came along, it did." Theodore snapped back. "Everyone just thinks that this was a man's house."

Melinda sighed heavy. "Andrea, these two are fighting worse than any spirits I've ever come in contact with." She kept her voice soft. "I don't know what to do."

"Send them on." Andrea looked around. "Where are they?"

"By the fireplace and the bed." Melinda kept her movements still and her voice low.

"What are they fighting about?" Andrea was intrigued.

"If you had just listened like a good wife should..." Melinda heard Theodore yell and she looked at Hattie, who merely snorted. "You..." Theodore looked at Melinda. "I bet you obey your husband and do exactly what he demands you to do. Is it too much to ask that she obey my every whim and wish?"

Melinda didn't know how to respond. She realised they were in two different decades. "We are in two completely different centuries. What was acceptable then isn't now."

"But should men have ever had the right to..." Hattie started.

"SHUT UP!" Theodore shouted. "I told you not to speak until you were spoken to."

Melinda hid a laugh as Hattie stuck her tongue out at Theodore.


End file.
